For the Love of a Child
by suspenceme
Summary: Emma finds herself in the middle of small town Storybrooke, widowed by 2 years, with her adopted son and his birth mother. With Cora seemingly calling the shots, how can Emma save a town when she herself is in turmoil? AU swanqueen slow burn. Henry is Daniel and Regina's. rating may change


**Hopefully the one and only authors note. **

**Just testing the waters on this story. I don't know what everyone will think of it so I thought I'd type out a bit and see a reaction. First OUaT fic so bear with me on some instances. All mistakes are my own.**

**Feel free to flame. =] It tickles me.**

**Disclaimer: Nothing is mine except for Nadia and the plot bunny...so far.**

Prologue

Her tears tracked down her cheeks hitting the straw that crunched under her knees. Her hands wavered over the body before her. She was too afraid to touch, too afraid that what she just witnessed was real and that her darling fiancé was dead. Dead at the hands of her own mother.

Regina blinked for the first time in minutes as her shaking hand came to rest on the cheek of her beloved. A sob wracked her body as her other hand landed on her small swelling stomach in an attempt to feel the life of Daniel once again. It was all that she had left of him.

"You stupid child." A voice all to familiar to her beckoned her away, forcing Regina from her mourning. "You selfish little girl. Falling in love with the stable boy was bad enough. But to lay with him and to have his—" She gestured to Regina's stomach with a sneer of disapproval. "You are unworthy to be my child. I did not raise you this way, to be a slut."

"I am 29 now, mother." Regina quickly stood and scrambled away from her mother, as the reminder of her age fell on deaf ears. Her arms wrapped around her mid section trying to hide the slight protrusion. Her attempt was futile, her mother had already seen—already knew. Regina felt fear engulf her being for both herself and her unborn child.

As her eyes glanced down at Daniel and then again to her mother, Regina watched as Cora's lips split into a chuckle. "Do not worry, Regina. I am not going to punish you or harm your child. I am not a monster. I do have a heart." Cora's chuckle deepened into a quick lilt of a laugh. It was sickeningly sweet and seemed nothing but rotten at its core.

"Regina, come here sweetie" Cora beckoned motioning for her child to come to her. Regina hesitated, only staring at her mother. Cora's wrist flicked slightly and Regina felt her muscles contract and her bones rotate. Her scream was one of shock and pain. "I said here, child."

And as she was forced to walk towards her mother, Regina could do nothing but fear for her child.

Chapter 1

Emma Swan fiddled with the ring around her finger for the last time before she smoothly lifted it from what she believed to be its final resting place. She set the silver band encrusted with diamonds in her cherry wood jewelry box on the dresser in _her _room. She would never get used to that: _her room_.

Granted it has been two years and a lot of therapy to get to this point. So maybe, with time, the thought of _her bed _and _her room_ and _her things_ all together will come to be easier to take. Better even.

Widowed at 28.

She doubted it would get better.

Emma's finger traced the outer edge of a picture frame nestled in the corner of her dresser before picking it up and heading towards the couch. She couldn't handle a night in the bed alone tonight. Lights were off, doors and windows were locked, and Emma sat in complete silence and darkness with only the picture frame as company.

She held the frame to her face trying to take it in. No tears slipped but a smile seeped onto her lips.

Progress.

"Hey Nad…It's been a while. My longest yet. I know you wouldn't want me on the couch but sometimes it gets too much and…"She trailed off trying to find her words. "I miss you, Nadia. All the damn time. Henry misses you too. Kid wears you shirt to bed most nights." Emma paused and looked down at herself and her own stolen-shirt clad chest. "I guess he comes by it honestly."

Tears were threatening to spill down her cheeks now. Emma hated the feeling of crying. She had cried so much for the past two years. She was tired of it, but the tears never seemed to run out. "I love you and I miss you. And I really wish you hadn't gone…" Emma set the picture down to her chest and took a deep breath before picking it back up again. "Hey, remember when we first got Henry? Man, we had tried everything for a year and nothing was working. I'm so sorry I couldn't give you a baby, Nad. But when we saw that 5 year-old kid sitting in the corner reading a book rather than playing with the other kids, we just knew. He was one of us. He was a Swan. And then when he got him. Oh man how you spoiled him rotten. I still blame his first cavity on you, by the way."

Emma trailed on through stories, both happy and sad. She stayed up talking to the picture until sleep pulled her under. The last words on her lips were that of Henry and Nadia.

To say Emma was a morning person would be a vast over exaggeration. The late night caught up to her quickly as her bleary eyes blinked open to the sun casting rays of light across her eyes.

She groaned her annoyance as she sat up, a blanket falling to her lap. Confused at first but then realizing Henry to be the culprit of her being tucked in caused a slight smile to form.

"Henry? You up, Kid?" She raised her voice slightly to call out through the apartment. She stood, stretching and popping her back with exaggeration. Rubbing at her sleep leaden eyes, she shuffled to the kitchen to fix a cup of coffee.

"Henry, let me know you're alive." She hollered out during her shuffle. Coffee beans ground, filter placed, and pot set to perfection, Emma wasted no time hitting the fridge for breakfast.

It was only when the eggs were dished out on a plate, and a coffee cup in hand, her second, that she realized the silence of the apartment. Setting her cup down and the eggs in the microwave, Emma called out to her son her tone a touch concerned. "Henry?"

Not bothering to knock on her 10 year-old's door, Emma turned the handle to an empty bedroom. "Henry!" Her concern bled straight to fear at the absence of her son. In her distress she almost missed the post it note stuck on his headboard.

As she read, her hand clutched at her head and she sat down in a huff trying to understand. Where was he going?

But like everything in Emma's life, when faced with confusion she presses forward for understanding. And at that moment, she stood and prepared herself for her impromptu trip…she looked down at the post-it note…to Storybrooke, Maine?

_Ma, find me._

_108 Mifflin St. Storybrooke, Maine._

_ I love you,_

_ Henry_


End file.
